john healey

Rt Hon John Healey MP

Shadow Secretary of State for Housing

John Healey is Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Housing since 2015. He is MP for Wentworth & Dearne in South Yorkshire, first elected in 1997. He was PPS to Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown from 1999-2001 before serving in Government for nine years, - in the Department for Education and Skills from 2001 as the Minister adult skills and apprenticeships then in the Treasury from 2002-2007 as Economic Secretary and Financial Secretary to Treasury. In 2007, John was appointed Local Government Minister and also responsible for the government response to that summer’s floods, before becoming Housing Minister attending Cabinet from 2009. As Housing Minister he led a big housing investment programme, including kickstart funding for stalled commercial sites, a boost to affordable housebuilding and getting councils building new homes at scale again for the first time in a generation.

Before becoming an MP John worked as a campaigner for disabled people and in the trade union movement. He was also a part time tutor at the Open University’s Business School and from 1994 to 1997 he was Campaigns Director for the TUC, where he helped draw up plans for the introduction of the National Minimum Wage, learning representatives and new rights for trade union members.